Slacking on the 70's and 80's metal

The short version is this:

Lately I have been streaming Slacker Radio. I set up my station of choice based around UFO in sound. Very cool. I have been introduced to some new bands that I have heard of but not heard before or heard very little that are totally AWESOME!! Angel, Zebra, early Helix, Diamond Head, Alcatrazz, Montrose, MSG, lots of UFO, etc. Anyway, A band came on called Coney Hatch that have a great sound and other than a paragraph on Wikipedia, I can't find anything about these guys. Can you help me out?

Coney Hatch were a rock radio staple up here in Canada in the eighties. I saw Coney Hatch live a number of times in the early eighties - once opening for Judas Priest on the Screaming For Vengeance tour in 1982; then opening for Iron Maiden (and Fastway) in 1983 on the Piece Of Mind tour; and in a club a few years later.
All three of their albums are great, but the first two are the best. Top notch Canadian hard rock. They are due to have their fourth release here in 2013 with Frontiers Records.

Nice! One thing that stood out to me was that they really did not sound like a clone of anyone that I have heard.

I know of and like Helix quite a bit and I like what I have heard from Triumph. It seems that very little Canadian rock makes it down here.

I found 3 albums on Amazon for a couple of bones each, so pretty affordable.

I only have these two on vinyl

A lil research shows that both were remastered with bonus tracks in 2005 and 2006

I didn'y find much on the third album "Friction" (below)


I think they are more akin to April Wine myself and believe a guy from this band played with them in latter version of that band ?

Yeah, the guitarist, who also spent some time in a re-vamped version of the Guess Who... according to wrongapedia, anyway.

I really like the first Coney Hatch album. The others, not so much. "Devil's Deck" is one of my all time favorite metal songs.

I love the first album (S/T)! Outta Hand was ok and Friction was a bit better IMO. I got to see them in a small club setting in Pittsburgh back in the early 80s. They were touring in support of their first album. Good show and band!

I also heard they have regrouped to do a new CD for Frontiers. I'm Looking forward to hearing what Carl Dixon and boys come up with!

Like Trock67, I love Devil's Deck. Also love Monkey Bars from the S/T debut as well. I believe Aldo Nova wrote 'Hey Operator' from that CDl...

I am now on the prowl for these albums. What I have heard sounds great. Thanks for the feedback guys.